USF Holland settles sex discrimination lawsuit

USF Holland has agreed to pay nearly a half million dollars to settle a sex discrimination lawsuit dating back three decades.

In a lawsuit filed in October 2020, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged that USF Holland had failed since the Olive Branch terminal opened to hire female drivers at the terminal, except for one. That one female employee was fired before she completed her first route.

The EEOC said it found in its investigation that a significant number of qualified women with extensive truck driving experience applied for positions with Holland over the years because of Holland’s impressive benefits package. However, even when the women’s qualifications were equal or superior to those of male applicants, Holland failed to hire them.

The EEOC said that the USF Holland terminal employed more than 100 truck drivers as of May 2016, but none were women.

Sex discrimination lawsuit settlement

The company has agreed to a three-year consent decree to settle the sex discrimination lawsuit. The company will pay $490,000 as part of the settlement.

It also will establish a $120,000 scholarship fund. Holland will award the scholarships four times annually for $10,000 each throughout the decree to female applicants who seek to obtain their truck driver certifications through Holland’s truck driver apprenticeship program.

The $10,000 scholarships are intended to cover tuition, a U.S. DOT physical, daily wages at $17.50 per hour, commuting and transportation costs for those whose domicile exists outside the city of the company’s driver training program, lodging, per diem, two Class A state exams, and entry-level driver training for placement of qualified females in the driver training program. Holland is required to subject all applicants to the driver training program to the same minimum qualifications regardless of sex.

The consent decree also requires USF Holland to revise its anti-discrimination policy and to conduct annual training designed to prevent sex discrimination at its Olive Branch facility.

“While the trucking industry is traditionally a male-dominated field, qualified female drivers do exist and are paving the way for more women to enter the field,” EEOC trial attorney Roslyn Griffin Pack said in a news release. “We are pleased Holland agreed to take proactive steps to not only train female drivers through its apprenticeship program but to also hire those qualified female drivers for positions in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas. We hope these small steps will make a big difference in the lives of women who seek to enter the trucking industry.”

USF Holland’s alleged sex discrimination conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on sex. The EEOC filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, Oxford Division.

In December 2020, USF Holland entered a partial motion to dismiss the case for events before April 11, 2015. According to the EEOC’s complaint, Marilyn Hervery applied for one of the terminal’s several open trucking positions in May 2015. The April date is 180 days before Hervery filed her complaint with the EEOC.

USF Holland is part of YRC Freight. It was acquired in 2005. YRC Freight is a subsidiary of Yellow Corp. USF Holland began as Holland Motor Freight in 1929, based in Holland, Mich. IT was purchased in 1985 by TNT Ltd., which became USF in 1996. LL

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